So I decided to put this small suggestion/Guide together on how to survive Shaper Select, do note all of this can also help reflect in-game play as well. Let me know what you think about this guide please.

How to Survive Shaper Select

We are all familiar with Shaper select rage. The person yelling “Carry or feed,” the quiet guy who seems to be okay with support, then picks a second gladiator at the last second, and the weird duo that wants to try a new composition bottom that seems doomed for failure.

So what do you do? How do you survive the delegation of roles and, more importantly, how do you pick what is right for you?

Negotiations

Whenever you enter a Shaper select, you should inform the team of not only what role you want to play, but what roles you CAN play. Listing them in order of preference and any additional notes help as well.

This not only expresses your preferred roles, but also encourages others to negotiate, as you haven’t specifically claimed a role. After you have expressed your roles, if you don’t receive any feedback, just keep going with kindness.

Encouraging talk helps get other people communicating and creates a decent amount of text that catches the eye of people who may not be paying close attention to the screen. As for the politeness, never underestimate how far it can take you with the Dawngate community. Certainly, there are a lot of unsavory people out there, but there are countless more who are thrilled to have some decent interaction with fellow Shapers.

Dealing with a Troll

So your team is shaping up nicely when someone joins the Shaper select late and screams “Carry OR FEED.” Of course, another Shaper has already been delegated the role and everything else has been worked out. What do you do?

If you have the time and they haven’t locked in, try to reason with them, it could be worth a shot. Just remember to be polite and don’t yell at them.

However, if the time is running low or they instant locked, try to assist with renegotiating the roles. If your team mate listed multiple preferred roles at the start, try to get them their second choice by juggling the team around instead. Don’t address the troll, just ignore them. It is a waste of time and will only cause stress and anger that will hurt your team’s performance. Remember, at the end of the game, you can tell them what you think and report them. No need to cause high blood pressure and encourage them to troll you in game as well.

Counters (When Ranked is enabled in DawnGate)

If you are playing ranked or another type of draft pick game, be prepared to switch roles, lanes and Shaper as picks and bans continue. Someone might play an unstoppable Shaper top, but, if the enemy team locks in Kindra top, it is best to figure out a different approach.

Here are a few rules to follow during draft picks:

If someone wants to play an easily countered Shaper, make sure they are picked after the enemy picks their opposing position. There is Shaper trading for a reason!

Try your best to avoid an enemy counter. Learn common counters to keep your team informed of poor Shaper choices and see if you can rearrange your team if a hard counter is picked.

Suggest counters as the enemy selects Shapers, but don’t force them. An even match-up with a Shaper you are familiar using is better than having the advantage on a Shaper you have hardly practiced.

Remember, there are full teams to counter as well as lane counters! Think big!

Countered? Don’t panic. Remind yourself and your teammates that a counter just means you need to play safe and get a little bit more assistance to keep up.

Play Your Best

Unless you are trying to learn a new Shaper, play those that you are most familiar with. Going outside of your comfort zone is great when expanding your Shaper pool and knowledge, but can be detrimental if your main goal is to win a game. Don’t jump for counters if you don’t know how to play them!

And, finally, play your best. In the face of trolling, DCs and everything else, play your best. You can come back from a four man DC to win, I know I have, so don’t give up just because things look ugly. Mute the chat if you have to, turn on some music and play on. Even if you don’t win, you often learn much more from a loss than you do from a win.